Doctors in Central Florida are reporting a surge in cases of respiratory infections at local clinics. Centra Care doctors in the Sand Lake area said there’s been a 200 percent increase in the past week. Conway’s Central Care clinic said cases at facility are up 600 percent during the last week.

Typical symptoms of respiratory infection include:

* A sore throat.

* Sneezing. * Nasal and ear congestion and watery eyes.

Posted: October 1st, 2008 under Diseases, Influenza, The Common Cold, Whooping Cough.
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A new study by researchers at Yale School of Medicine explains why the cold and flu virus symptoms that are often transient in non-smokers, but seriously sicken smokers. The research also pinpointed the mechanism through which viruses and cigarette smoke interact to “increase lung inflammation and damage.”Scientists historically haven’t been able to explain why smokers have more exaggerated responses to viral infections. Those who smoke cigarettes have been more likely than non-smokers to die during previous influenza epidemics and are more susceptible to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). What’s more, kids who are exposed to second-hand smoke get sicker, faster, when infected with respiratory synctial virus.

The conventional wisdom has been that cigarette smoke decreases anti-viral responses. But the Yale researchers— Dr. Jack A. Elias, MD, the Waldermar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine and chair of internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine, and Dr. Min-Jong Kang, MD, associate research scientist—found the exact opposite to be true.

Their studies showed that the immune systems of mice exposed to cigarette smoke from as little as two cigarettes a day for two weeks overreacted when they were also exposed to a mimic of the flu virus. The rodent’s immune systems cleared the virus normally but the exaggerated inflammation caused dramatically increased levels of tissue damage.

“The anti-viral responses in the cigarette smoke exposed mice were not only not defective, but were hyperactive,” said Elias. “These findings suggest that smokers do not get in trouble because they can’t clear or fight off the virus; they get in trouble because they overreact.”

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Smokers more prone to viral infections than non-smokers.

Posted: August 5th, 2008 under Avian Flu, Developing Diseases, Diseases, Impaired Immunity, Influenza, SARS, The Common Cold.
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Researchers have infected laboratory mice with the rhinovirus, the virus which is behind most common colds, for the first time.

Previously, researchers thought that rhinoviruses only infected humans and chimps. But now a team of doctors, led by Professor Sebastian Johnston at the MRC/Asthma U.K. Center in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma at Imperial College London, part of the University of London, have confounded conventional wisdom.

Health officials note: 

* Rhinoviruses are an inconvenience for the majority of the population, causing around three quarters of common colds.

* But, in at-risk patients, they can be fatal, and can lead to the hospitalisation of infants, pneumonia in people with weakened immune systems/asthma attacks.

* They are also the major cause of acute attacks of chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

“Until now it has not been possible to study rhinovirus infection in small animals. This has been a major obstacle to developing new treatments and there is currently no effective treatment for rhinovirus infection,” said Professor Johnson. “It had been thought that mice and other small animals were resistant to rhinoviruses. Of the 100 known strains of rhinovirus, 90% use a binding molecule, called ICAM-1 that is found on the surface of human cells, as their receptor.”

But, scientists note, the viruses are unable to bind to the mouse version of this receptor.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

 Images of the rhinovirus. Source: National Institutes of Health.

Posted: February 12th, 2008 under Feature Stories, The Common Cold.
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Scientists have discovered hundreds of versions of the common cold, and by February, every winter season, many parents are convinced their families have suffered from nearly every one. Recent worries about the safety of over-the-counter children’s cough and cold medicines, which have been shown to present serious health risks, have left many parents wondering how to care for their young children, according to a report in USA Today.

See,

http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=When+children+catch+a+cold%2C+make+them+feel+better+safely+-+USATODAY.com&expire=&urlID=26024696&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fhealth%2F2008-01-22-kids-colds_N.htm%3Fcsp%3D34&partnerID=1660

The American Academy of Pediatrics says there’s no evidence that over-the-counter cold and cough medicines actually work in children under six. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration urged parents to avoid giving such medicines to children under two.

Though most children get over colds on their own, pediatricians say these symptoms merit a visit to the doctor:

* A temperature of 100.4 degrees for more than four consecutive days.

* Any fever of 100.4 degrees in babies under three months.

* “Boomerang” fevers that occur after a child has been fever-free for 24 hours.

We also understand that labored breathing or shallow breaths in which a child sucks in the rib cage, flares the nostrils, grunts, breathes quickly or makes a high-pitched squeal called stridor.

– The Editors

 

Image Source: University of Wisconsin.

Posted: January 24th, 2008 under News, The Common Cold.
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